Frequently Asked Questions

There are some obvious clues that your resume is not as effective as it could be. You may not be getting offers for interviews at all, or you may not be receiving appropriate responses to your resume (e.g. getting calls for positions you are clearly overqualified for).

There is no rule that a resume has to be one page. Your resume has to represent what you have to offer to your next employer clearly and concisely.

Yes. Please read, Why You Need A Cover Letter.

That depends. If you are applying for the same type of position, you can use the same resume with a few minor customizations each time. If you are targeting more than one career field or industry, you will need more than one resume.

PDF stands for portable document format. PDF files work independent of your computer’s hardware or operating system. You can download Adobe Acrobat Reader at no cost if you do not already have it installed. If you want to edit your PDF file, you can purchase and download Adobe Acrobat Standard. Alternatively, you can edit the Word file and then use PrimoPDF to “print” your Word file and convert it to a PDF format that way. If you do not want to download or purchase any software, you can convert your files to PDF online on www.zamzar.com.

Plain text resumes are useful for uploading to employer databases. Basically, when you get your resume converted to plain text, the formatting is removed. This allows any computer to read the information correctly, regardless of the program you used to create it.

While these services claim to save you time, there is no real guarantee that they are distributing your resume to the appropriate hiring managers. Some people have had success with these companies, and others have not. I suggest you target your resume to the job you are applying for and edit your resume when appropriate for best results. In my opinion, this is much more effective than blasting your resume to thousands of recruiters. If you really want to try out a resume distribution service, the only one I can recommend at this time is Resume Spider.

Professional resume writers are specialists who are trained on how to best market your background to increase your chances of being contacted for an interview. Partnering with a resume writer is no different from hiring an attorney to help you file court papers or hiring an accountant to help you file your taxes.